Weighing cost versus price is one way to change your thinking.
“It’s time to update your FAFSA,” read the first line of the email, and I was reminded of a story I read last year at this time about funding for college. Last year I had two children attending and this year all three, so the cost of tuition, books and board is daunting.
In writing this blog last year, I read and wrote about some of the options I have available to me right now, and some changes I can make so my financial situation becomes more healthy in the future. The most fundamental of the options is to become a lender rather than borrower, which is a concept that seems foreign to most of us. How can we become lenders when we need to ask for help from the Federal Government to send our kids to school?
One way is to start by changing the way we look at the world around us. How many credit cards to we have and need? Most people have at least four or more credit cards, and use them on a regular basis, carrying over $4,000 in debt. We don’t often want to delay gratification, so we add to our debt by using credit to make purchases. The way to avoid that is to save for the things we want and pay cash when possible.
That goes to the cost versus the price of your purchase. When you buy on credit, you have the purchase price of the item plus the fees and interest over time, so the actual cost of it is much higher. Say you spend $1,200 on a new television set; and take a year to pay it off. The cost after tacking on interest and extra fees is an additional $200 or more. Is your new TV actually worth what you pay for it in the long run?
Talk to an AC Financial Adviser about ways you can start to turn from a borrower to a lender when it comes to making financial decisions in your home. Call (800) 574-3136 to get started on the road to financial health.
